ISTANBUL ( WNAM MONITORING): Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit on Sunday the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to attend events marking the 51st anniversary of the Cyprus Peace Operation, known as Peace and Freedom Day.
During the visit, Erdogan will meet TRNC President Ersin Tatar and also participate in the groundbreaking and opening ceremonies of some projects that will be implemented with Türkiye’s support, Türkiye’s Communications Director Burhanettin Duran said on X.
Cyprus has been mired in a decades-long dispute between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, despite a series of diplomatic efforts by the UN to achieve a comprehensive settlement.
Ethnic attacks starting in the early 1960s forced Turkish Cypriots to withdraw into enclaves for their safety.
In 1974, a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island led to Türkiye’s military intervention as a guarantor power to protect Turkish Cypriots from persecution and violence. As a result, the TRNC was founded in 1983.
It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Türkiye, Greece, and the UK.
The Greek Cypriot Administration entered the EU in 2004, the same year that Greek Cypriots single-handedly blocked a UN plan to end the longstanding dispute.
